"Pimpin'" is a song by American rapper Tony Yayo, included as a track on his debut studio album Thoughts of a Predicate Felon (2005). The song's production was handled by record producer LT Moe, who also helped to write the song with Yayo. Musically, "Pimpin'" is a rap song expressing Yayo's desire to be able to legally pimp women, and is backed by an upbeat, "bouncy" production containing elements of digital guitar.

"Pimpin'" received generally mixed reviews from music critics: although some praised the song's upbeat production, others felt the song out of character when compared to Yayo's previous work, which typically covers a darker subject matter. Despite not being released as a single, the song received considerable rotation on US urban contemporary radio stations, which resulted in the song peaking at number sixty-six on the US BillboardHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Background and composition

Critical reception

"Pimpin'" received generally mixed reviews from music critics, with some also noting that the song felt out of place on Thoughts of a Predicate Felon when compared to the more intense songs that appear on the album. Allmusic writer David Jeffries named "Pimpin'" as one of the album's best songs, along with "So Seductive", "Drama Setter" and "Dear Suzie". Pedro Hernandez of RapReviews commended the song's "bouncy production", but criticized the song's concept as "unoriginal", and for this reason called it a "track that only Yayo fans will appreciate". Whilst commenting positively on more intense and "brutal" songs such as "Homicide", Ross McGowan of Stylus Magazine criticized the song's tempo, calling it "bland", and felt that the song's music video was the only thing making the song interesting to listen to, writing that "it’s way less fun to hear when it isn't accompanied by continuous footage of G-Unit’s main men wrestling each other for face time". However, The Michigan Daily writer Ewan McGarvey wrote more positively of the song, calling it "one of the [album's] few charming songs": despite noting that "Yayo's old mix-tape career gets cannibalized" for the song, he felt that "simplicity kind of works for Tony", although he also wrote that "it's not the real G-Unit manifest destiny".

Chart performance

Despite not being released as a single, "Pimpin'" debuted on the US BillboardBubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart at number eleven for the chart week dated August 6, 2005: it went on to spend seven weeks the chart, and peaked at number one. The song then debuted, and peaked, at number sixty-six on the US BillboardHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for the chart week dated October 1, 2005, and went on to spend three weeks on the chart. Chart-position wise, "Pimpin'" is the second most successful song of Tony Yayo's career, behind only Thoughts of a Predicate Felon's first single "So Seductive", which reached number seven on the corresponding chart and also peaked at number forty-eight on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Music video

The music video for "Pimpin'" was released as a double-music video along with the video for the single "Curious", which is also present on Thoughts of a Predicate Felon: although the section containing the footage for "Curious" appears first on the video, it is positioned immediately after "Pimpin'" on the album's tracklisting, appearing at number ten. Both sections of the video were directed by production group Fat Cats. After three minutes and eight seconds, the video segues from the "Curious" section to the "Pimpin'" section, which lasts for a further one minute and thirty-six seconds.

Credits and personnel

The credits for "Pimpin'" are adapted from the liner notes of Thoughts of a Predicate Felon.